Gaining the trust of your customers

The discovery sessions that we conduct with our clients play an essential role in fostering an atmosphere of trust that allows communication to flow effectively between the two. It is normal that the first communicative scenarios are loaded with some tension, because although we are used to handle this type of situations, it is not something common for the client to have to tell his problems to a stranger.

During the development of this guide we will be addressing the importance of generating an atmosphere of trust with our clients and how this influences the optimization of the results to be obtained during our coaching sessions.

How does trust influence the coaching sessions?

Trust is a natural disinhibitor for the communication we establish with our clients. In the same way that we do not relate in an honest way with people we do not know, it happens to the client who has to present his problems to a stranger. Without an atmosphere of trust, it is unlikely that the client will agree to communicate without filters that will hinder the quality of the information he or she is conveying to us.

During discovery sessions, what we are looking for is a real understanding of the client's current state, his profile and the magnitude of the problem to be addressed. It is not enough to ask him questions if we have not managed to get him to enter a zone of comfort and tranquility, where he feels at ease to express himself without complexes or to disguise the real content of the problem.

Generate confidence in the first sessions

Dedicate the first sessions to generate an atmosphere of trust with your clients. You can talk about random topics that allow you to introduce aspects of the specific problem, without being too invasive and respecting the time needed for communication to flow naturally. Do not judge your client, be understanding.

Practice empathy in each of the processes. If you manage to generate a friendly scenario, it is very likely that you will have access to truly relevant information and that it will not contain the noise that is induced when appearances are taken care of.

No matter how long it takes you to generate trust in the client, do not agree to go deeper into the problem if you do not consider that the communication you are establishing with the client is the right one.

Aspects such as laughter, the non-verbal language transmitted by their body and the way they express themselves are valuable indicators of how you are progressing in this task.

Access to communicate personal aspects about yourself

The more we know about a person the more open we are to giving them information about ourselves. A very simple way to get information from our customers is to agree to tell them personal aspects about us. You don't have to wait for the customer to be the first to show confidence, you can set an example by being the one to start communicating aspects about yourself.

Try to touch on topics about yourself that relate to the topics you want your client to discuss about himself. The feeling of reciprocity will move him to offer you information in the form of gratitude, this is a natural human behavior and is usually very effective during the development of therapies or negotiations.

Remember that here lies the importance of a coach to have an integral and multidisciplinary profile, it is not enough with the knowledge you have about your subject, the communicative and psychological resources are essential to obtain satisfactory results during your coaching sessions.